Method of making a disposable



6 a. s. RAFFERTY METHOD OF MAKING A DISPOSABLE SCOURING PAD Filed March24, 1950 INVENTOR. Ear/k4 1: Fafla" y ATrQRk/EY United States PatentMETHOD OF MAKING A DISPOSABLE SCOURING PAD Bertha S. Rafferty, Skagway,Territory of Alaska Application March 24, 1950, Serial No. 151,572

1 Claim. (Cl. 300-21) The present invention relates to cleaning padscommonly used to scour cooking utensils or other similar articles.

Cleaning pads of metal fibrous material, particularly steel wool, arecommonly used in combination with soap. In fact, pads of steel woolhaving soap embedded therein have been marketed for many years past, andhave proven to be an effective abradant. Nevertheless such soap padshave met with warranted criticism, especially since the users hand,unless gloved, comes into direct contact with the wool, and is thussubjected to impregnation by small particles commonly separating fromthe pad proper. The soap pads so far produced have been thick andintended for prolonged use, but it has been found that after oneapplication such pads begin to rust and are, extremely messy due to thedissolving of the soap and hence become unpleasant and ditlicult tostore between usages.

However, since a metal wool pad saturated with soap is an efifectivecleaning and abrasive agent, it is the principal object of my inventionto provide such a pad which is furnished with a protective cover for theusers hand, and yet is inexpensive enough to produce that prospectiveusers can afford to discard it after a single scouring operation.

With the foregoing and other still more particular objects andadvantages in View, the invention consists in the novel construction andin the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my scouring pad.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the pad; and

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view showing the pad gripped for use.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 4 represents a metal wool pad,preferably steel wool, impregnated with soap. The soap has not beendistinguished from the wool fibres in the drawings because of theinherent difficulty of such a dual portrayal, and because such a showingis not necessary for a clear and cognizant understanding of myinvention. In forming such a soap filled pad a large thin sheet of thewool is saturated with a hot liquid soap solution and is then quenchedto solidify the soap between the fibres, such a procedure being old andwell understood in the art, and hence not constituting a part of thepresent invention. I have discovered that such a soap-filled sheet ofmetal wool can be backed with an inexpensive covering, butcher paper forexample, without necessitating the use of staples, cement, or othercommon binding means well known in the art. In practicing my process thedesired protective covering is first placed over the soap-filled sheetand then heat and pressure are applied to the outside of the covering,the heat being just sufficient to melt the soap adjacent the covering.The pressure forces the melted soap against the covering and betweensome of the fibres thereof. The

2,735,721 Patented Feb. 21, 1956 sheet and covering are then cooled toresolidify the soap and during this cooling operation it is desirable tomaintain the pressure to keep the covering and sheet in firm engagement.As the soap cools, it adheres to the covering and binds it to the sheet.The sheet is then cut into pads of the desired size.

The protective covering can also be bonded to the metal wool sheet whenthe sheet is originally saturated with soap, and namely by positioningthe covering before the molten soap is applied so that when the latteris quenched it will adhere to the covering.

I prefer to form the wool sheet of a width twice that of the resultantpads and then apply a covering to the sheet, in the manneraforedescribed, of a width greater than the width of the sheet so as toform a flap on each side of the sheet so that when the sheet is bisectedlongitudinally and cut in pad lengths a plurality of pads will be formedeach of the type shown in the drawings. Such a pad has a cover 5 for itssoap filled metal Wool abradant 4 and a free flap 6 which can be bentaround the adjacent edge of the pad and bent under a portion of theworking surface of the abradant. When the flap is so positioned, the padcan be gripped in the manner shown in Fig. 3 with the thumb engaging theunderturned portion of the flap and the fingers the top of theprotective covering so that the users hand is completely screened fromany harmful contact with the metal wool.

In using the pad for scouring, the surface to be cleaned is moistenedand then rubbed with the pad in the conventional manner. The soap nearthe working surface of the pad gradually dissolves as the scouringprogresses but unless an abnormal amount of water is used, that is tosay unless the pad is continuously submerged, the soap binding thecovering to the abradant will not be dissolved. There is sufficient soapin the relatively thin pad to supply soap for the scouring of severalutensils so that a housewife need use only one pad to scour the utensilsdirtied during the preparation of an average meal and she can thenafford to discard the pad, and so is no longer faced with thedisagreeable problem of storing a messy scouring pad. In other words, mypads can be produced cheaply enough that the average person can use anew one for each meals utensils.

The invention should, it is believed, he clearly understood from theforegoing detailed description, and it is my intention that the heretoannexed claim be read with the broadest interpretation to which theemployed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

A method of backing a soap-filled pad of metal wool with a protectivecovering, said method comprising placing the covering over the pad,applying heat and pressure to the outside of the covering, such heatbeing regulated to melt the soap adjacent the covering and said pressureserving to force the melted soap against the protective covering,removing the heat, cooling the melted soap to resolidify it and bind thepad and covering together, and removing the pressure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,649,894 Field Nov. 22, 1927 1,661,778 Valentine Mar. 6, 1928 1,786,513Zuckerman Dec. 30, 1930 1,878,250 Primeau Sept. 20, 1932 2,308,405 TullyJan. 12, 1943 2,389,736 Muise Nov. 27, 1945 2,447,241 Englund Aug. 17,1948

